While flying near the creekside area in Vikhroli, an adult lesser flamingo fell on the ground after its collision with a power cable. The bird was then rescued by Resqink Association for Wildlife Welfare (RAWW) team in coordination with the locals at the Godrej's Creekside Colony.
According to the locals, a flamboyance of flamingos was flying around the creekside area while one of them accidentally collided with a high voltage power line causing it to crash on the ground.
The flamingo was immediately rushed to Dr Deepa Katyal's clinic for an x-ray and later taken to Dr Priti Sathe for a medical examination and first-aid.
According to Dr Priti Sathe, "As per the preliminary reports, we suspect that the flamingo has suffered a dislocation in its right-wing and its prognosis is guarded."
Collisions of large migratory birds like flamingos with the power cables, mobile towers or other kinds of transmission lines in the eco-sensitive zone have risen in the last couple of years.
RAWW’s founder Pawan Sharma said "Almost every second case of flamingo rescue comes to us with either a history of collision, electrocution or accidental injuries due to these pink birds getting entangled around such transmission lines."
Regarding the injury of the bird, Sharma explained that rehabbing such cases is often challenging as in most cases collisions cause irreparable damage to the injured bird's body. "Generally, their nature of injuries includes fractures in wings and legs which directly has an impact on their chances of surviving in the wild post-treatment," he added.
According to RAWW, this incident comes to light at a time when the union ministry has instructed the power companies installing transmission lines across Thane creek to use bird flight diverters (BFD) to protect the pink birds and other migratory birds in and around the vicinity of Thane Creek Flamingo Sanctuary.
